Vote 2002
Shnelvar values freedom
Boulder home to three gubernatorial candidates
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by Staff (Editorial@boulderweekly.com)

Rollie Heath (D), of Boulder, has undertaken the task of trying to defeat Bill Owens as Colorado governor-a tough task, considering the fact Owens is considered by political pundits as the most popular and least vulnerable governor in all 50 states.

Still, Heath has run a serious campaign that promises health care for everyone and a revitalized economy.

"All of a sudden we've found that the pot of gold has disappeared," Heath says. "Permanent tax cuts implemented by Bill Owens have put us in peril. We don't have the luxury of saying there's going to be endless surpluses anymore. Bill Owens squandered our future just so he could give us each a couple of hundred bucks."

Go figure. Those same tax cuts landed Owens on the cover of National Review and magazine's title of Best Governor in the United States.

Heath wants to improve transportation by adding a full-time director of alternative transportation, so the state won't continue pouring concrete to address transportation needs.

He proposes generating $2.5 billion in new revenue over the next 10 years with a cigarette tax so that proceeds could provide insurance for the uninsured.

Heath also promises to focus on future water needs of the state, which might grow by more than 6 million residents in the next 20 years.

"Bill Owens has brushed aside the tough issues by making excuses," Heath says. "As your governor, I'll take on the tough issues and find answers.

Ron Forthofer (G), of Boulder County, decided to run for governor when he read the newspaper and realized the incumbent Republican and the Democratic challengers were planning to spend money on their campaigns.

"I was dismayed by a recent article emphasizing that Bill Owens had over $5 million in his coffers whereas Rollie Heath had 'only' $700,000," says Forthofer. "The fact that there was no mention of ideas or issues, only money, demonstrates the bankruptcy of our current political system. I, on the other hand, am running a low-budget, people-powered campaign so that it will be clear that my interests are you and the environment."

Forthofer has focused his campaign on five key issues: Healing our "sick" health care system; getting big money out of politics; budgeting to meet people's needs; repairing and rebuilding the school system; and cooling off global warming through innovative approaches.

"We must provide incentives so that Colorado can create thousands of new high-paying jobs in renewable energy and energy efficiency," Forthofer says, explaining how his concern for the environment can work synergistically with his desire to improve Colorado's economy.

Forthofer wants to increase education spending, but his education platform doesn't stop there.

"Schools and teachers must encourage and facilitate creativity and critical thinking, not rote learning," Forthofer says. "Getting ahead in today's highly complex and high-tech society requires more than memorization and test-taking skills."

Governor Bill Owens (R) set three key goals for his first term in office: improve the quality and accountability of Colorado education; reduce the tax burden on Colorado families; and make transportation a priority in the state again after nearly a quarter-century of neglect. His campaign centers of the claim that he accomplished all three.

Owens, to the chagrin of many Colorado Democrats, pushed through the largest tax relief package in Colorado history, amounting to $1 billion in cuts in rates of personal income, sales and capital gains taxes, and an elimination of the marriage penalty. He's been so successful at slashing taxes that middle-class Coloradoans have become accustomed to major tax returns. Conservatives are so impressed that throughout the nation they're eyeballing Owens as a likely candidate for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination.

Owens was identified as one of the country's 10 up-and-coming leaders by nationally syndicated columnist and television commentator Robert Novak, a conservative Republican. When he's not working, Owens writes and lectures about Russia and has visited the former Soviet Union nine times since 1985.

Ralph Shnelvar (L) wants to be governor in order to legalize marijuana, protect the Second Amendment, and protect citizens from a host of liberties he fears will be taken as we progress through the early stages of a post-9/11 era.

Shnelvar, a Boulder resident, was born in New York City to Nazi Holocaust survivors, and says his parents' horrific experiences in WWII taught him just how precious freedom is and how easily it can be lost.

After graduating from George Washington High School in Manhattan, Shnelvar paid his way through Columbia University by doing computer programming for various professors. He did statistical computer modeling and counted as clients the National Bureau of Economic Research, the U.S. Department of Labor, Exxon, the National Opinion Research Center, and various professors at both Columbia University and the University of Chicago.

Shnelvar, a proud Libertarian and promoter of University of Chicago-style economics, has gone out to elementary schools and high schools several times a year to teach Libertarian principles.

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